Sudbury Cubs still clicking
Is there any slowing down the Sudbury Cubs? The two time reigning champions in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League have been virtually unstoppable since the calendar flipped to 2026.
Coached by Darryl Moxam, the Cubs closed out the regular season schedule by going 16-2-2 over their final 20 games to finish first overall among the 11 teams of the NOJHL with 83 points from a record of 39-8-5. And the run continued into the playoffs with a perfect result through the opening two rounds.
As in, through the first two rounds of the playoffs, the Cubs won all eight games — they swept both the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners and Soo Eagles — to earn a spot in the NOJHL championship series. After outscoring no. 8 seed Kirkland Lake by a 27-6 margin in breezing through the opening round, the no. 1 seed Cubs were able to oust the energetic no. 7 seed Eagles in Game 4 of the second round with a 4-3 overtime victory.
To be sure, there was no shortage of impact performances by Sudbury players through the first two rounds of these playoffs as, overall, the Cubs out scored their opponents by a 51-19 margin in the eight games.
Mason Walker, a 2008 birth year forward who is a signed Ontario Hockey league prospect of the Sudbury Wolves, lit it up through the first two round of the playoffs with eight goals, 12 assists, 20 points in the eight games. (Walker’s playoff performance through the first two rounds followed a spectacular regular season in which he posted 33 goals, 55 assists, 88 points in just 39 games for the Cubs.)
Following Walker on the Cubs playoff scoring chart are Briir Long with six goals, 13 assists, 19 points, Daks Klinkhammer with 8-7-15 totals, ace defenseman Spencer Horgan with 2-10-12 numbers, Owen King with 5-3-8 stats and blue liner Alex Valade at 4-4-8. Meanwhile, Caden Dubreuil, Kaedyn Long and Lucas Antonioni all clicked for three goals apiece.
Of further note, 2009 birth year forward Ty Dubreuil, who is one of the youngest players in the entire NOJHL as a 2025 OHL priority selections draft pick of the Windsor Spitfires, had a goal and an assist in the first two games of the playoffs before being sidelined with a concussion.
Between the pipes, Iain Wintle has a perfect 6-0 playoff record to date while Matthew Vahramian won both of his starts.
above photo of Cubs head coach Darryl Moxam shaking hands with Eagles forward Nolan Nemecek
